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Spanning 11 tracks, El Camino Real is the band’s third LP since reuniting in the early 2000s and is described as the “companion” to last year’s La Costa Perdida. The band self-produced El Camino Real and recorded in various studios and band members’ living rooms across California.

Despite forming in the heyday of the Southern California punk scene, Camper Van Beethoven instantly set itself apart by infusing the early ’80s hardcore sound with bits of pop, ska, blues, Norteño music, and even European folk. With El Camino Real, they continue their genre-defying ways, making use of every tool in their musical bag to near-lethal efficiency.

According to a press release, “Whereas La Costa Perdida reflects the northern California ‘back to the country’ side of the band with lush and trippy references to Jack Kerouac, Richard Brautigan, The Beach Boys and ‘Big Sur’, the songs on El Camino Real are firmly rooted in a grittier earth. One that lies beneath the southern half of the state and stretches all the way down to Baja California.”

Said frontman David Lowery, “The best way to look at the new album is to draw a contrast between the two. On La Costa Perdida the ocean is calm, benevolent and feminine; on El Camino Real, the sea is filled with darkness, secrets and chemicals.”